Law

Critics Blast ‘Compromises’ As Patriot Act Barrels Toward Sunset

May 30, 2015 Deirdre Fulton, www.commondreams.org Resist! Congress, Law, Surveillance, Wars and Militarism

With the sunset of key spy powers on the near horizon and lawmakers scrambling to save them, privacy and internet freedom groups are dialing up the pressure on Congress to end mass surveillance as we know it. The Senate will return to Washington, D.C. for a rare session on Sunday, on the heels of a week-long Memorial Day recess. With sections of the Patriot Act barreling toward a 12am June 1 expiration, lawmakers are reportedly scrambling to come up with a last-minute deal to save the law after a series of Senate votes on Friday failed to resolve an impasse. The debate over the National Security Agency's (NSA) spy powers has some senators pushing to kill the Patriot Act entirely and others advocating for "clean" re-authorization.

Protesters Win: Berkeley Post Office Saved

May 29, 2015 jpmassar, www.dailykos.com Resist! Berkeley, California, Law, Post Office, Public

In early April, the US Postal Service won. They got a Federal Judge to dismiss, without prejudice, Berkeley's lawsuit against the sale of the downtown Berkeley Post Office. Funny thing though, nobody in Berkeley thinks the Post Service won, and for Postal Service management it was at best a pyrrhic victory. In order for them to extract that ruling, they had to attest that the 2000 Allston Way building was no longer for sale, and aver that they had rescinded their decision to move services out of the building. In an amusing twist Judge Alsup had asked the Postal Service lawyers during oral arguments whether they would rescind their "Final Determination Regarding Relocation of Relocation Services in Berkeley."

The Banks Are Felons That The Government Refuses To Stop

May 29, 2015 Portie Crowe, www.businessinsider.com Educate! Banking, Criminal Justice, Finance and the Economy, Government, Law

This week, five Wall Street banks pleaded guilty to felony charges related to interest rate rigging and foreign exchange manipulation. The guilty pleas mean the banks are literally felons, and it's a distinct shift in the way law enforcement has dealt with Wall Street in the past. Lawsuits and legal fees are nothing new for the banks: since the financial crisis, they have essentially become the cost of doing business on Wall Street. Now, apparently, that cost includes both legal fees and criminal charges. The thing is, no one seems to be fazed. This case has nothing to do with the financial crisis. Rather, a couple years ago, traders from a handful of banks manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, an important interest rate used around the world as a benchmark for mortgages and other loans. Other traders manipulated the prices at which banks bought or sold currencies.

Patriot Act: Cool Mitch McConnell Gets Passionate — And Pays

May 28, 2015 Burgess Everett and Manu Raju, www.politico.com Resist! Law, Privacy, Surveillance, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

Mitch McConnell rarely goes out on a limb on issues that divide Senate Republicans. He’s more prone to sit back and listen, let his conference work out their differences — and only then assert his own views. But the majority leader ditched that dispassionate approach when it came time to renew the country’s anti-terrorism surveillance laws — he spoke out early and vociferously against reforming soon-to-expire PATRIOT Act provisions — and the departure now threatens to undermine the Kentucky Republican’s vow to bring more responsible governance to the Senate. For weeks, McConnell tried to lay the groundwork for an extension of the post-9/11 law, only to be boxed into a corner by the House GOP leadership and his junior senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, who’ve pushed to substantially change or end the program.

Nebraska Becomes First State To Abolish Death Penalty Since 1973

May 28, 2015 Kim Bellware, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Death Penalty, Law, Nebraska

The days of the death penalty in Nebraska are ending. Lawmakers repealed the death penalty on Wednesday with a 30-19 vote that overrodethe veto Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts signed on Tuesday. One week earlier,lawmakers voted 32-15 to pass LB 268, which would replace the death penalty with life without parole as the state's highest penalty. The number of death penalty states in the U.S. stands at 31 following Nebraska's repeal. "We're just thrilled that these legislators studied this issue so carefully and so intently and ultimately came to the conclusion that repealing the death penalty is the best thing for the state," Stacy Anderson, executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.

Cleveland And Justice Department Agree To Police Reforms

May 27, 2015 Corey Shaffer, www.cleveland.com Resist! Cleveland, Criminal Justice, Law, police brutality, Police the Police

Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled widespread reforms Tuesday meant to transform a police department that too often used excessive force and failed to conduct thorough internal investigations into a national model for big-city police. The 105-page settlement avoids a potential lawsuit by the Justice Department after its investigators concluded a nearly two-year investigation in December and found Cleveland police too often used excessive force, failed to thoroughly investigate itself and had suffered from an erosion of community trust. The agreement goes beyond correcting the Justice Department's complaints and includes extensive data collection meant to curtail racial profiling. The Justice Department and the city reached the agreement after five months of negotiations, with input from rank-and-file police, union officials and citizen groups.

Senate Moves To Check Executive Spying Power

May 27, 2015 Shahid Buttar, www.truth-out.org Educate! Congress, Law, Surveillance

Congress approved the Patriot Act in 2001 with neither debate nor an understanding of what it entailed. Since then, it has accepted - from both the Bush and the Obama administrations - secret legal interpretations contorting statutes into mass surveillance programs recently held illegal by a federal appellate court, as well as lies under oath by senior officials aiming to hide domestic spying programs from congressional and public oversight. The American people have never gone along quietly. During the Bush administration, years before the Edward Snowden revelations amplified mass outrage in 2013, nearly 500 cities and eight states issued official declarations decrying mass surveillance.

The Real Experts In Criminal Justice Reform

May 26, 2015 Glenn E. Martin, www.nccdglobal.org Create! Criminal Justice, Law, Leadership, Mass Incarceration, Poverty, Social Change

I was first bound by handcuffs in 1995, and though I haven’t known their debilitating grip for years, the hypocrisy and destructiveness of our criminal justice system has remained with me ever since. When exiting the belly of the beast, my vision was crystal clear, even if my path was uncertain. Throughout my adolescence, strife was a familiar companion: poverty, crime, meager public support, and violence predictably culminated in a term of incarceration. After leaving prison, like the other 650,000 people who exit each year, I faced barriers to employment, enfranchisement, education, and equality, both mirroring and intensifying the challenges of my youth. I found opportunity in the advocacy world. There, I was valued for my professional skills, but also for the unique perspective that I brought to the work as someone directly impacted. I began to gain national attention as a staunch advocate for reform.

Protesters Clash With Oakland Police Over Curfew Crackdown

May 26, 2015 Jeffrey Schaub, www.sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com Resist! Criminal Justice, Law, Oakland, police brutality, Wars and Militarism

Several people were detained during protests in Oakland Sunday night, following clashes with police out in force on orders that violence and vandalism would not be tolerated. Police said officers used force in two instances but did not describe the tactics officers used. About 100 protesters, including several clergy gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza upset that the city began implementing a law that requires that protest marches be permitted and that they be limited to sidewalks and take place before dark. The group then headed towards Oakland Police Department, but officers turned them back. Some of the marchers— and the police who followed— blocked a portion of Broadway. Many of the protesters left the scene at that point. Some of those who didn’t, got into a shouting match with police. According the the San Francisco Chronicle, police issued 19 citations and made four arrests in all.

‘This Is Straight Murder’: Protests Following Cleveland Acquittal

May 25, 2015 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Cleveland, Criminal Justice, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

After a white police officer in Cleveland, Ohio was acquitted on Saturday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man and woman in 2012, protests against racism and police brutality spread throughout the city as activists called for justice. Police in riot gear arrested multiple protesters marching peacefully through the streets of Cleveland, where the shooting took place. Activists chanted, "No justice, no peace" outside of the courthouse where the officer was cleared of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. The trial had been closely watched as a growing civil rights movement swept the country. The officer, Michael Brelo, and 10 other officers fired 137 shots at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams after a 20-minute car chase, with Brelo climbing onto the hood of Russell's car and delivering 15 shots at close range.

Judge Says No To Fracking

May 23, 2015 Anastasia Pantsios, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Environmental Justice, Fracking, Law, North Carolina, Oil & Gas

A judge in North Carolina has blocked the start of fracking in that state over a challenge to the membership of the commission charged with issuing the permits. “Finally some good news in our long battle to keep fracking out of NC!” exulted North Carolina environmental nonprofit Haw River Assembly, one of the parties to the lawsuit, on its Facebook page. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) was granted the preliminary injunction it sought in Wake County Superior Court to delay the state’s Energy and Mining Commission from taking any action on permits, effectively reinstating (for the time being) the state’s longtime moratorium on fracking which was lifted by the legislature last summer.

Police Release Surveillance Video In Shooting Investigation

May 23, 2015 Rachel La Corte, www.bigstory.ap.org Resist! Law, police brutality, Surveillance

Law enforcement officials on Friday released surveillance video from a grocery store that is part of an investigation of an officer-involved shooting that wounded two men who were suspected of trying to steal beer. The video released by the Thurston County Sheriff's Office in Washington state shows two young black men walking into a store holding skateboards. Olympia Police Department spokeswoman Laura Wohl said in an email that officials have confirmed "that the individuals in the Safeway surveillance are the two suspects who were shot." One is seen leaving with what appears to be a case of beer. When confronted by a store employee, the man tosses it near her and the case breaks, splattering liquid on the ground. The man then runs away. Olympia Officer Ryan Donald was among those who responded about 1 a.m. Thursday to a 911 call from the Safeway store, which was released by Olympia police on Friday. In that call, the store worker says her hand was hit when the case of beer was thrown at her.

Indigenous Woman Sues Multinational For Husband’s Murder

May 23, 2015 Jeff Abbott, www.truth-out.org Resist! Criminal Justice, Guatemala, Indigenous Women, Law

The indigenous Mayan communities of Guatemala have historically been given few judicial outlets, national or international, to seek justice for human rights violations at the hands of multinational companies operating in their territory. But Angelica Choc, a Mayan Q'eqchi' woman from the small hamlet of La Union in the department of Izabal on Guatemala's eastern coast, has looked to change that. In an unprecedented case, Choc has sued a parent company in its home country for human rights violations committed by its subsidiaries in Guatemala. "Those who have the money here have the voice," Choc told Truthout. "But I too have rights, and I am struggling for respect and dignity.... This demand is not only mine; it is for all of Guatemala, for all of those who have suffered from the invasions of our territories by foreign companies to extract our natural resources. This demand is historic."

Prosecutor: 6 Officers Indicted In Death Of Freddie Gray

May 23, 2015 Juliet Linderman, www.AP.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

A grand jury indicted all six officers charged in the case of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries he suffered in police custody, allowing the state's attorney to press ahead with the most serious charges despite criticism that she was part of an "overzealous prosecution." The indictments announced Thursday were similar to the charges Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced nearly three weeks ago. The most serious charge for each officer, ranging from second-degree "depraved heart" murder to assault, stood, though some of the lesser alleged offenses had changed. Gray suffered a critical spinal injury April 12 after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, Mosby has said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored.

Fast Track Passes Senate But With Anti-Slavery Poison Pill

May 23, 2015 Laura Barron-Lopez, Ryan Grim, and Zach Carter, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Congress, Free Trade, Law, Obama, TPP

President Barack Obama's trade agenda suffered a setback Friday evening during a series of last-minute maneuvers in the Senate. While the upper chamber eventually passed a bill that would help Obama streamline a trade pact with 11 Pacific nations, the final product threw a wrench into the president's plans. The Senate approved a bill to "fast-track" trade agreements negotiated by the president. The agreement will prevent Congress from amending or filibustering Obama's controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. The TPP deal would have a hard time surviving without fast-track authority. But a key crackdown on human trafficking survived the legislative jujitsu. The White House considers the provision a deal-breaker, as it would force one of the nations involved in the TPP talks -- Malaysia -- out of the agreement.

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